Migraines day following climbing?

Thanks for the replies all, I'm male (so I'll look in to Atenolol, Tim) I'm meeting with a neurologist soon to try AMJOVY/Emgality etc. (hopefully, perhaps Botox?). I haven't noticed a trend with dehydration. I use belay glasses, exercise doesn't seem to help to prevent next day migraines. I'm almost never underfed. I would love to see a study on the efficacy of CBD (THC hasn't helped me in the past) that's not from "Cannibinoids (sp?) Research" or some similar journal. I also never get migraines during the day of climbing (sometimes late in the evening though)

I haven't seen any convincing studies about nutritional supplements (not that I've read every one, so some of this is hand me down knowledge from doctors). Would also love to see those.

Sam, I'll try your shower sufferfest, next time I'm suffering.

C. Mustard, I regret to inform you that I actually invented the "super dose turmeric + vitamin d Paleolithic electrolyte pho micro green bone broth after you dab the hemp lavender essential fish oil, bro" (TM) treatment and it's unfortunately ineffective for treating anything besides ED, which it works fantastically for. I recommend all males and females try it.

You’ve got tons of good advice here, and I could go on and on as I’m a chronic migraineur myself (had them daily for months), but I will try to add some useful points.

Have you heard about a migraine threshold? Basically, when a nerve fires, there is a chemical change in the cell so once it passes a tipping point (threshold) it guarantees firing. In migraine, neurons get excited and start firing and have trouble turning off. This is why attacks can last for days. Often, the attack begins way before the onset of pain, and continues after the pain as subsided. Symptoms are unique to each person, but for me I get thirsty and start peeing a lot before the pain. I might get foggy or notice my thinking is slower, then sensitive to light and sound and finally the pain comes. After it subsides I will be groggy or feel cognitively “off” for hours and will have less energy. I explain all this, because understanding the basic mechanism and concept of threshold is key to understanding and controlling migraine.

As you go about your day you experience things that lower your threshold—make a migraine more likely. For example, skipping a meal, not getting enough sleep, being stressed at work. Add up enough of these “triggers” and you will have an attack. In order to prevent migraine, you have to do things to increase your threshold. Most people don’t think about this because they don’t get enough migraines, but for me I do the following: keep a regular sleep schedule, eat a ketogenic diet, try to avoid or manage work stress, exercise regularly and stay fit, take baths and do fun things to relax, etc. I also take daily preventative meds, make sure I am hydrated, and take a magnesium supplement in the morning, especially before climbing.

Everyone who gets migraine has a unique set of triggers and things they do for relief or control, so we can’t tell you what yours are. Many potential ones have already been pointed out based on your original post. You have to examine your routine and see what things you do that raise your threshold (make migraine less likely), and what does the opposite. You may only need to change one thing to eliminate your attacks, from the sound of it. For what its worth, the keto diet has worked wonders for me (70% reduction in headaches and totally gave me my life back). I don’t preach this diet, but I do recommend that people cut carbs and sugars to see if they feel better. Especially if you eat crappy on days you are climbing hard (all those calories get burned off, right?) making this small change could be the difference between having a migraine the next day or not.

Good luck, and please update us here if you figure it out. 

I'm a sufferer. Exertion and heat trigger mine. Specifically, when my heart rate gets too high and is sustained I cross a threshold that sets the migraine in motion. I take triptans as well, and have tried atenelol and a bunch of other prophylactics that all caused undesirable side effects. But, I had to try a certain number of them before my insurance would cover injectables. Now I take aimovig monthly which at the higher dose does seem to cut the frequency down but I still have to watch the heat and exertion. With climbing I've found shorter sessions in the early AM or PM to avoid the heat actually work.

Also if one more person says the headaches are due dehydration I might just go postal. Just sayin! If you're a sufferer I'm sure you get it.

I am exactly the same! tripan works well for regular migraines. but had neck and back muscle injuries later and it could trigger my headache a few days later. I am thinking how to relax my muscles after climbing. 

Anonanomanom Yerpwrote: Hi Folks,
I suffer from migraines 1-2x a week. Fortunately triptan's work like a charm and can make migraine's disappear completely in 10 min - 2 hours. Lately, one of the biggest triggers has been back and neck tightness following days of climbing. I generally climb til dark / until it's not fun anymore  every time I go out so I usually end up pretty sore. Does anyone else experience next day migraines (following climbing)? If so, what has worked for you to limit them?

I'm interested to hear from those who get migraines as well as  MD's, NP's, nurses and clinical researchers.

Tim Pagewrote: Also if one more person says the headaches are due dehydration I might just go postal. Just sayin! If you're a sufferer I'm sure you get it.

Yep. Sounds like we are migraine twins. Heat and exertion. Hydration isn't a big variable.

I'm still debating on the biologics and which one I should try. A few weeks ago I cut out liquid caffeine completely (yet again) and it's helped my threshold so much (yet again). But I crave coffee and black tea so much, even though the actual caffeine dependence has mostly worn off. Fucking hell.

Naiqing Songwrote: I am exactly the same! tripan works well for regular migraines. but had neck and back muscle injuries later and it could trigger my headache a few days later. I am thinking how to relax my muscles after climbing. 

Naiquing-
   See my post on the previous page. As I discovered about 30 years too late, intense exercise of the upper body works like nothing else. It is tough, and usually I just want to reach for a drug, but it works fast. My preferred exercise is a type of pull-up with help from the feet.
  Also, the antihistamines I mentioned have muscle-relaxing effects. One I discovered on my own, the other was prescribed by a neurologist.

Jon Nelsonwrote: Naiquing-
   See my post on the previous page. As I discovered about 30 years too late, intense exercise of the upper body works like nothing else. It is tough, and usually I just want to reach for a drug, but it works fast. My preferred exercise is a type of pull-up with help from the feet.
  Also, the antihistamines I mentioned have muscle-relaxing effects. One I discovered on my own, the other was prescribed by a neurologist.

Jon,

Thanks a lot. I will try to see if it will help me.

Naiqing Songwrote:

Jon,

Thanks a lot. I will try to see if it will help me.

Alright, I hope one or both help. Good luck.

The exercise method is a bit tough because for the first minute or so, the migraine feels worse. (It is no doubt why I hadn't discovered it before.) But out of extreme frustration one time, I just kept going. And a few minutes later, I was exhausted but had no migraine at all. Nothing. Later, I read about how weightlifters rarely suffer from migraines, and maybe it is connected to my experience.

I'm also surprised more people don't try the antihistamines. They make one drowsy, but that seems a minor thing and it can be offset with coffee.

Jon Nelsonwrote:

Alright, I hope one or both help. Good luck.

The exercise method is a bit tough because for the first minute or so, the migraine feels worse. (It is no doubt why I hadn't discovered it before.) But out of extreme frustration one time, I just kept going. And a few minutes later, I was exhausted but had no migraine at all. Nothing. Later, I read about how weightlifters rarely suffer from migraines, and maybe it is connected to my experience.

I'm also surprised more people don't try the antihistamines. They make one drowsy, but that seems a minor thing and it can be offset with coffee.

Thanks for the tip about upper body exercise- I will try to remember this next time I have a bad one! How many total minutes would you say you do it for?

I also take benadryl, but it's usually after I've taken a triptan and it doesn't work. I take it in combination with rx diclofenac, and it has worked every time. (A trick I learned from a neurologist.) Oddly enough, if I take it before I've tried a triptan, it has less success, so perhaps there is a beneficial interaction there.

Mel Cwrote:

Thanks for the tip about upper body exercise- I will try to remember this next time I have a bad one! How many total minutes would you say you do it for?

I also take benadryl, but it's usually after I've taken a triptan and it doesn't work. I take it in combination with rx diclofenac, and it has worked every time. (A trick I learned from a neurologist.) Oddly enough, if I take it before I've tried a triptan, it has less success, so perhaps there is a beneficial interaction there.

Interesting. I had no luck with triptans. Good to hear that they work for you. 

My neurologist also prescribed cyproheptadine (an older type of antihistamine), to be taken every night. I found that as long as I kept a regular sleep pattern, it worked very well. 

I've pretty much stuck with my original exercises. I had a pull-up bar (piece of wood), and another bar for my feet, set in a little to make things overhanging. Then, I just start doing these cheater pull-ups continuously, aiming to reach 100, which takes about 3-4 minutes. It is very grueling, and I bear with it only because I know it will work. I think the workout of my shoulders and neck are key, and I try to strain them as I work out. However, it is very unlikely I just stumbled onto an optimal exercise, so perhaps others will work too.

More recently, I have been using a  homemade strap device, like a TRX system instead, connected to the top of a doorway, with ramp-pedal--like foot holds at the base of the door. The motions are about the same. And I can get some relief from doing push-up exercises with them, at about a 45-degree angle.

Ian Dibbswrote: Three suggestions that help me keep climbing migraines away ... climbing in the sunshine for long periods seemed to be a migraine trigger for me, I now wear long sleeve "sunblocker" shirts, and a sun hat, pop a tylenol or advil at the start of your climb, they often seem to stop a migraine from developing, and finally, eat properly at the start of your day and have small snacks during your outing so you're not exerting "on empty".

Excedrin is the only OTC that has ever worked for me. I take it before I climb. It helps bigtime

When it doesn't I take Imatrex it's a narcotic  but it works.
Good luck I feel your pain.
Migraines are the worst and only those who have had them can relate. 

lsdclimber Elliswrote:

Excedrin is the only OTC that has ever worked for me. I take it before I climb. It helps bigtime

When it doesn't I take Imatrex it's a narcotic  but it works.
Good luck I feel your pain.
Migraines are the worst and only those who have had them can relate. 

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lsdclimber Elliswrote:

When it doesn't I take Imatrex it's a narcotic  but it works.

Imitrex and other triptans are not narcotics.

Jon Nelson, your exercise regimen is a very unusual "treatment". Keep in mind that exercise is often a trigger or at least exacerbating for migraine in a lot of people. You may be unique.

Aeriliwrote:

Imitrex and other triptans are not narcotics.

Jon Nelson, your exercise regimen is a very unusual "treatment". Keep in mind that exercise is often a trigger or at least exacerbating for migraine in a lot of people. You may be unique.

Yes, I think folks are different. But it is exacerbating for me too, and that is why I didn't try it for over 30 years--exercise seemed to "get my blood pumping", worsening the migraine. It still does, but I found the effect limited and soon overcome by another effect that I suspect is related to muscles relaxing. Anyway, I just hope it can help some others. 

My bad my doctor told me it was a narcotic. Just goes to show that they literally Practicing medicine. I stand corrected. 

For me, daily magnesium supplements were life-changing.  Any muscle-building activity or workout used to be a guaranteed migraine trigger.  A few others have already mentioned Mg supplements, but I don't think they emphasized enough how much they can help with post-exertion migraines.

Back with more observations. It seems like dairy is a trigger. The saddest news but also perhaps nice to know finally. 

Jon Nelsonwrote:

Alright, I hope one or both help. Good luck.

The exercise method is a bit tough because for the first minute or so, the migraine feels worse. (It is no doubt why I hadn't discovered it before.) But out of extreme frustration one time, I just kept going. And a few minutes later, I was exhausted but had no migraine at all. Nothing. Later, I read about how weightlifters rarely suffer from migraines, and maybe it is connected to my experience.

I'm also surprised more people don't try the antihistamines. They make one drowsy, but that seems a minor thing and it can be offset with coffee.

Hi everybody. Just found this thread outta "desperation". Most of the days when I'm out climbing, I often guess if it's gonna be "the DAY". I'm sure most of you guys can relate to this, it really sucks to go out on a climbing day, wondering if a sneaky migraine will ruin everything or not. And yet, reading various testimonials, I consider myself amongst the "lucky ones", since I get 4/5 attacks per year, and only a 10% of the times when I'm really pushing myself over my limit.

Jon Nelson experience brought to me a memory.

There have been 4 times, when after the aura I went on climbing a couple of routes. 1 time because I was on the last pitch of a multi, the other 3 times because I just tried to do it, because the aura had passed anyway. Well, those times the headache had been more than bearable; didn't even need a NSAID when the other times NSAID do absolutely nothing.

So yeah, in this mostly unknown darkland which is Migraine, maybe everyone's experience can help us sufferers connect the dots.

I was thinking about starting up a FB page about Climbing+Migraines, since there are many groups about migraines, but no specific one for this issue.

Let me know what you guys think.

Take care

Marco

I get these exhaustion / dehydration migraines all the time after long days of exercise or even just a few hours but in the hot sun if I don't ingest electrolytes. I add electrolyte tablets to a liter nalgene if its a chill cragging day or if it's a long alpine day I pretty much put tablets in all the water I drink. Sunscreen and hats/sunglasses make a big difference too.